On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sought to reassure the world about civilian casualties on the second day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“No one is going to attack the people of Ukraine,” he said during a heated press conference, telling the CNN that “there were no attacks on civilian infrastructure”.
However, reports of apartment buildings and kindergartens being bombed, civilians killed and rockets found on residential streets have been pouring in since the offensive began.
Videos from social networks, photos and satellite images analyzed and geolocated by CNN confirm that on several occasions densely populated areas were hit by Russian forces.
THE CNN tries to contact the Russian government for comment.
Amnesty International, in a press release released on Friday, accused Russian forces of “indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and attacks on protected objects such as hospitals”, citing three examples – including an attack on Thursday. near a hospital in Vuhledar, in the east of the Donetsk region. That attack killed four civilians and injured ten more, Amnesty reported.
Here are some examples found by CNN.
Kindergarten in Okhtyrka
A kindergarten in Okhtyrka, in the northeastern region of Sumy, was hit by shelling on Friday, according to several public officials. Mayor Pavel Kuzmenko claimed the bombing was carried out by a Russian multi-launch rocket system, called Uragan, and injured several children.
News of the alleged attack on Sonechko’s kindergarten was confirmed by the head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, Dmytro Zhivitsky, who said this was the third bombing in Okhtyrka on Friday.
A video that circulates on social networks, and that the CNN geolocated in kindergarten in Okhtyrka, shows injured people covered in blood on the floor in front of the entrance.
After the alleged attack, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kulebaaccused the Russian Federation of “war crimes”.
“Today’s Russian attacks on a kindergarten and orphanage are war crimes and violations of the Rome Statute,” Kuleba tweeted.
“Together with the Attorney General we are collecting this and other facts, which we will send immediately to The Hague. Responsibility is unavoidable,” he added.
The orphanage was also mentioned by Lyudmila Denisova, the Verkhovna Rada’s Ombudsman for Human Rights.
“As a result of the heavy armored bombing of an orphanage in the town of Vorzel in the Kiev region, 51 children are currently at risk of life and health, three of whom are in serious health problems and 15 are babies. Two institution buildings were damaged,” she said.
Attacks on Bucha and Kharkiv
A video appeared on Facebook on Friday showing a projectile hitting the asphalt on a residential road.
The user who posted it attached a photo of what was left of the attack saying “the shard is on our doorstep”.
THE CNN geolocated the video to a residential address in Bucha, a suburb of Kiev.
Open source experts and analysts are debating whether the rocket contained a cluster bomb based on the images.
Mark Hiznay, associate director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch, told CNN that the projectile is cluster bomb ammunition.
When it hits the ground, the ammunition “will impact a wide area”, explained Hiznay, and “send 9mm bullets all over the place”.
Another explosive also dropped in a residential area in Kharkiv, a city in northeastern Ukraine.
An image that circulated on social media showed a large projectile that had crossed a crosswalk. THE CNN geolocated the image to Kharkiv.
Hiznay identified the weapon as an engine for a Smerch rocket and said it was probably no longer dangerous.
Apartment building in Chuhuiv
An apartment building in the eastern city of Chuhuiv, on the outskirts of Kharkiv, was hit in an attack on Thursday that Ukrainian authorities blamed on Russian forces.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has listed Chuhuiv as one of the targets of intense bombing and attacks on the first day of the Russian offensive.
Maxar released new footage of a nearby airport that was the likely target of the attack. In the images, you can see damage to fuel storage areas and other airport infrastructure.
News agencies such as Agence France-Presse and Anadolu released footage showing a resident of the Chuhuiv apartment building crying among the wreckage of the attack, an old woman wrapped in a blanket sitting outside and firefighters tending to a fire inside the building.
At least one victim can be seen lying on the floor. The photos also showed a single large crater in the ground that suggests the use of a single missile or rocket for the attack, Amnesty said.
THE CNN geolocated the attack site.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
